Harvard Women's Basketball Falls on Last Second Shot in Ivy Madness Rematch

A sold-out crowd packed into Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday to watch a rematch of last season’s conference championship clash, but a strong second-half comeback by Harvard fell just short of redemption in a 58-55 loss to Columbia.

Harvard (8-7, 1-1 Ivy) entered the game hot, having won five of its last six contests. The Columbia Lions (10-5, 1-1) were hungry for revenge after the Crimson upset them on their home court to steal the Ivy League Tournament Championship title and the automatic March Madness bid away last season.

Unlike the last time these teams met, this game was characterized by large momentum swings instead of tight, nail-biting action from the first tip until the final buzzer. Harvard trailed by as many as 17 points in the game but fought its way back to regain the lead. However, Columbia's senior Perri Page got the last laugh, nailing a game-winning three-point play with just one second remaining on the clock.

Junior forward Abigail Wright once again led Harvard’s offense with her fifth 20-point night of the season. Wright scored her points on an efficient 8-of-15 shooting and added six rebounds to the stat sheet. Her efforts kept the Crimson afloat in a difficult first half.

Columbia controlled the game early, scoring the first nine points of the game and taking a commanding 17-point lead halfway through the first quarter. In danger of drowning early, the Crimson responded by going on a 7-1 run late in the first quarter to narrow the deficit to 11 and stay afloat to end the first period.

The Lions continued to control the second quarter, maintaining the lead throughout. Harvard was able to keep Columbia within reach heading into halftime, spurred largely by its defense that tallied six forced turnovers. Still, Columbia's lead had grown to 13 as the Crimson trailed 34-21 at the end of the first half.

The start of the third quarter marked a pivotal switch for Harvard’s momentum. Despite Columbia scoring the first two baskets of the half to extend its lead back to 17, the Crimson ignited a strong offensive stretch. Junior captain Karlee White led the team during its run, scoring or assisting on the majority of the buckets. Harvard also got hot from beyond the arc, while its counterparts ran cold.

A layup by White pulled the Crimson within one with just over two minutes left in the third quarter. Ultimately, Harvard tied the game at 47-47 going into the fourth quarter, having outscored Columbia 26-13 in the third, shooting 66.7 percent from the field.

The final quarter became a defensive battle, with both teams putting up their lowest point totals of any quarter in the fourth. The struggles to score made the fourth quarter an intense chess match with neither team able to separate from the other. The Crimson's junior guard Mary Hollensteiner tied the game 55-55 at the 1:36 mark with a second-chance basket. However, Columbia was able to capitalize on its final possession of the game, with Page’s three-point play at the rim to secure the 58-55 victory. With 5.7 seconds on the clock, the Lions entered the ball to Page in the short corner off a baseline inbound. Page took two dribbles to her left towards the paint before stepping through three Crimson defenders to kiss the ball off the glass with the foul from just outside the block.

Page buried the free throw, but Harvard still had 1.9 seconds on the clock. However, a turnover on the ensuing possession ended all hope for the home crowd.

Despite the heartbreaking loss for the Crimson, Harvard will have to recover quickly from the loss with two more conference clashes coming up. The Crimson face the University of Pennsylvania (10-5, 0-2 Ivy) on Saturday, Jan. 17, and No. 24 Princeton on Monday, Jan. 19, in another Ivy Madness rematch.

—Staff writer Natalia Howard Pagán reached at [email protected].